Astrid ColeAstrid Cole developed her love for writing in her senior year in high school. It all started when she and a friend collaborated on a vampire novel, since Twilight was the hot movie in 2009. Although that first novel was just for fun, Astrid never stoped writing even when she started Miami-Dade College in 2009. Amidst her goal to get into medical school, she came up with tons of science fiction thrillers that she'd write for fun when she wasn't studying. A few years later, she realized that medical school wasn't for her and that it was time to start honing her craft as a writer. At Florida International University, she switched to an English major. There, she got to read literatures from a variety of time periods and her favorite poet was Edmund Spencer (way better than Shakespeare). She thought of publishing her first novel in 2012, but quickly realized she wasn't ready and kept writing stories on the side.In 2013, she started getting into fitness and competed in her first (and only) bodybuilding show just two years later. Winning third place qualified her for states, but she loved eating too much to compete again. Instead, she focused on running, completing a half-marathon in 2017, and then powerlifting, which she does for fun. After she got her master's in English Literature in 2021, she started reading more fantasy and science fiction and tried her hand at publishing once more. Since then, she's been working on the Diamond City trilogy and plans to revisit earlier novels for publication. Read More Read Less